Immigration

William Lazonick writes that "The top dogs have a huge interest in allocating corporate resources to jack up their companies’ stock prices, thanks to some terrible decisions by the SEC." Not only were laws passed that allow CEO's to get far higher pay without the strict requirements for performance found in other countries, not only were their taxes greatly reduced, but the Securities and Exchange Commission changed the rules in ways that allow CEO's to jack up their companies' stock prices.

In 1982, the SEC changed rules that prohibited large-scale stock repurchases to allow up to 25% of a stock's daily trading volume to be traded every day, day after day. Stock buybacks result in an increase in the price of a stock. In 1991, the SEC made another rule change that enabled top executives to make quick gains by exercising their stock options and immediately selling the shares. Prior to 1991, executives had to hold the stock options six months after exercising the options before the stock could be sold. This rule change enabled top executives to time sales so they could benefit from stock price boosts from buybacks.

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MN's Leading Election System

With Secretary of State Steve Simon

Listen to Secretary of State Steve Simon's excellent presentation on MN's outstanding election system emulated by many other states at the Think Again Brooklyns forum January 19, 2016. Secretary Simon includes ways in which it can be improved, and he explains why it is important to vote. He concludes with a quote from a tee shirt: "Failure to vote is not an act of rebellion. It is an act of surrender."

In January, Oregon became the first state in the country to begin automatically registering eligible citizens to vote when they obtain or renew their driver's licenses or state IDs, completely shifting the burden of voter registration from the individual to the government.